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Pageland mom’s car found days after disappearance, state says; person of interest denied bond

By WSOCTV.com News Staff
By WSOCTV.com News Staff

PAGELAND, S.C. — New details in the investigation of a missing South Carolina mother were released Thursday during a court hearing for the person of interest in the case.

In the hearing, Channel 9 learned Deidre Reid’s car was found in Aiken County, South Carolina, just days after she was reported missing, according to the solicitor.

The mother of three was last seen five months ago on Sept. 3 when she left home to take Emanuel Bedford to a Charlotte bus station, family members and Pageland police said. Bedford is the father of Reid’s 7-year-old son, his youngest child. He was supposed to return to his home in Augusta, Georgia.

Reid never returned home from the trip and authorities are still searching for her.

Channel 9′s Tina Terry spoke with the Reid family in an exclusive interview Thursday. They told her Reid is the missing link in a family that has been very tight since they were little kids.

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“Deidre kept all of us together. I miss her calling me every day. We talked two, three times a day -- all of us,” Reid’s brother, James Reid said.

During the hearing, the state said the car, that was found partially submerged in a pond on Sept. 5, had blood inside it.

“It’s very sad that we don’t know where Deidre is at. It breaks all of our hearts,” James Reid said.

Deidre had plans to meet up with her sister, Tina, after she dropped Bedford off.

“I waited and waited. She never called back so I called James and said, ‘have you heard from Deidre? She supposed to been coming by she said she was coming back and she hadn’t came yet.’” Tina Reid recalled. “He said, ‘she probably okay,’ but I didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel right.”

Emanuel Bedford and Deidre Reid

On Sept. 23, Bedford was named a person of interest in Reid’s disappearance and on Thursday, prosecutors revealed what family members have said all along -- they don’t believe he has been truthful about what happened the day Reid disappeared.

Warrants were issued for Bedford’s arrest on Oct. 8 and he was taken into custody in Georgia shortly afterward. Police charged him with grand larceny and obstructing justice and brought him back to South Carolina.

During the court hearing Thursday, prosecutors released new information, saying Bedford never got on a bus in Charlotte. They said on the afternoon Reid disappeared, he was spotted on surveillance video at a York County gas station, driving Reid’s car. She was not seen in that video. Then, two days later, investigators found her partially submerged car and are still processing the DNA evidence from the blood they found inside it.

The judge denied Bedford bond on Thursday. An attorney for Bedford argued his client has already been in jail for months on charges that should qualify for bond, but in the end, the judge agreed with prosecutors, saying Bedford is a flight risk.

Family members pray the results will lead them to the closure they’ve been seeking.

“Her kids really need it, we need it,” James Reid told Channel 9. “Can you imagine your mother telling you she’s going to the bus station to drop somebody off and you never see her again? It’s devastating.”

“I just want him to tell us where she’s at. That’s all I want. I just want to know where she’s at,” Reid’s sister, Tina Reid, said.

The judge said the state should get its case together and return to court April 4 to reconsider the bond issue.

“It was a sigh of relief knowing that Emanuel is still in custody. Like I said, it’s a sad day for me and my family that Emanuel is still here and our sister is no where to be found,” James Reid said.

After the DNA evidence returns, prosecutors said they plan to go before a grand jury and seek additional charges in the case in March.

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